What's Eating Gilbert Grape Mental Illness

Gilbert has unresolved feelings about his life and his responsibility to his family, and he makes it clear that he has become disgusted with his mother’s appearance. Gilbert is currently engaging in a sexual relationship with one of his married customers, Mrs. Carver. Mrs. Carver is significantly older than Gilbert, which may insinuate that Gilbert is suffering from an attachment disorder due to the lack of attention and affection from his parents.

to take a bath, after that Gilbert left the house and drove off. Gilbert had enough

The movie takes place in the fictional small Midwestern town of Endora, Iowa. Gilbert says in the film’s opening voiceover, “Describing Endora is like dancing to no music...nothing much happens here, and never will,” In one of the scenes, we understand that the father could not handle the pressures of life so he committed suicide 15 years earlier by hanging himself in the basement. Gilbert is concerned about the condition of the farmhouse so he calls his friend Tucker so they can check the stability of the floor by going into the basement. They bring in some

This delay hinders Arnie in being capable to understand things at an age appropriate developmental level. Every since the Grape’s father death, the siblings have been responsible for caring for Arnie and the mother. The parental role is being shared among the siblings in their care for Arnie.

in the bath tub all night because he wanted to go visit the girl. Arnie was then

Becky becomes involved with the Grape family and helps Gilbert to realize that he is entitled to his own life, wants and needs. Gilbert Grape will be the focus of this paper and what can be done to implement changes in his life. These changes will benefit Gilbert and the entire Grape family, by focusing on a strengths prospective.

In the novel, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges, Gilbert Grape, the protagonist, is twenty-four years old, living in the small town of Endora Iowa with his family. Throughout the book Gilbert is involved in two relationships that are different in many aspects. The first relationship is with Mrs. Carver, a married woman with two children. Gilbert’s relationship with Mrs. Carver has been ongoing for seven years. The relationship is based solely on sexual activity and is a toxic relationship for Gilbert. Gilbert’s second relationship is with Becky, an intriguing fifteen year old girl who is staying in Endora with her grandmother. Gilbert and Becky pursue an interesting relationship with one another but seem to have different objectives.

His oldest sister, Amy, is a very caring woman that tries to take on many responsibilities herself and the youngest sister Ellen, who is only fifteen, has many issues with her family that she is trying to overcome, as well. Becky, a young girl that traveled into town with her grandmother and their caravan found romance with Gilbert and a certain connection with Arnie accordingly. Arnie is not your average boy; he is mentally challenged and was not expected to live to see his tenth birthday, let alone, his eighteenth, which he surpasses in the movie. Arnie is associated with many heights in the movie as he is regularly seen dangling from the roof, climbing trees, and of course, his ritual of scaling the water tower. Although Arnie loves the heights, he can not seem to conquer the depths as he will not venture to the basement of the house. “I don’t want to go down there, Gilbert; Dad’s down there,” thus voicing the repressed fear that no one in the family will, or can put into words.

Film portrayals of the mentally ill, have contributed to the stigma faced by people with these conditions. Films tend to create and reinforce the same certain stereotypes of the mentally ill. The film Silver Linings Playbook, is a refreshing departure from from this pattern. Exaggerated cinematic portrayals have largely bypassed mental illnesses , such as; Bipolar disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, etc. This film Silver LInings PLaybook, accurately depicts these common disorders among several characters in this film. The three main characters that blatantly show this depiction, are; Pat, Tiffany, and Pat’s best friend Danny Mcdaniels.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, a motion picture released in 1993 and directed by Lasse Hallström, follows the life of Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) and his younger brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a mentally disabled 17 year old. Their mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), is morbidly obese and has been home-bound for the past seven years following the suicide of her husband. After their father died, Gilbert became the main caregiver and provider for Arnie, their two sisters Amy and Ellen, and their mother. As they grew up, Gilbert quickly became Arnie’s role-model, and the two now share a special bond. The brothers work together at the local grocery store, are often found playing hide and seek, and have a special tradition where they watch the campers drive through their small town of Endora, Iowa every year. This year while watching the campers, a traveler named Becky (Juliette Lewis) caught Gilbert’s eye, and he has trouble keeping up with a new love interest and Arnie’s constant mischief.

Generally people with mental issues are cast aside in society. The mentally impaired are immediately labeled as different. Questions on what to do with these people are common. In literature they are seen being locked into a tower room where they are forced to live their days peeling back the yellow wallpaper. This confines the characters to a world where it's just them and their insanity. These characters are present in many different stories. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare's King Lear are two prime examples of characters suffering from mental disabilities and disorders. Although they are not locked in a tower, the mental illnesses are apparent when studying the Mad Hatter, Alice, King

When a family is put in tough situations, it is natural to want to escape from it all. As a man surrounded by things that seem beyond his control, the main character of the film, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, shows the psychological emotional detachment that can occur when the realization of such an escape is impossible. Gilbert Grape is a man often thinking carefully about his situation and making an effort to filter his feelings. His family life is depressing, and his emotional response to his living arrangement is an overall rejection of everything around him. Gilbert often shows contempt for his family by having cynical thoughts of them whenever he speaks inwardly about them in his mind. Gilbert appears to be on autopilot through life, only speaking enough to keep things peaceful with friends and the people of Endora. Gilbert has a general lack of interest in most relationships outside of his family, and often turns a blind eye towards the town of Endora as a whole. His severance extends even to himself, as he is not emotionally honest with himself. As the film progresses, Gilbert's emotional state begins to readjust as he comes back into contact with his feelings. The emotional detachment is extreme for Gilbert, and Johnny Depp does an excellent job at depicting the psychological effects of a broken home and the difficulty one faces in overcoming it.

William joins the military and while he’s gone Margaret invites William’s mother Mrs. Anglin and brother Marshall to her parents’ house for dinner, which doesn’t go well because Mr. and Mrs. Ryder refuse to sign in an even more awkward silence. William comes back injured but not crippled and they live with her parents until he’s accepted into college. Margaret’s parents are sad to see her go but as soon as they can they go see her and it was unannounced. Margaret’s parents are very upset to see the place where she’s living and go to sign how upset they are that William hasn’t provided better for their daughter. Her parents never visit her again. The next time Margaret sees her parents is when she’s very pregnant to let them know that they’ll be grandparents. Lastly William and Margaret move into better housing where they will raise their child till William graduates from college. Margaret and William invite everyone to their baby shower after the birth of their son and her parents show up after everyone has gone. Margaret is upstairs with her son and William answers the door and her parents surprise her. When they see each other all the turmoil between them is gone and they enjoy each other’s company. The movie ends with Janice’s retirement party where Abel, Margaret, William and their son go and Janice’s signs a speech that Margaret

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a motion picture drama that follows the life of the Grape family in the small, lackluster town of Endora (Hallstrom, 1993). Gilbert Grape, played by a young Johnny Depp, is the film’s predominant character and apparent man of the family after his father’s death. Throughout the movie, Gilbert narrates his thoughts as he attempts to navigate his familial responsibilities, his work, and his personal life. Gilbert struggles to take care of Bonnie, his morbidly obese mother, his new love interest, Becky, and his autistic brother, Arnie. Arnie is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and for the purpose of this assignment, will be the focus of this analysis.

In the film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1993, one of the main ideas is that of struggle and hardship. This idea is significant to the film because it relates to each character in a different way, making the storyline more interesting. Three different techniques used by Lasse Hallstrom to illustrate the idea of struggle and hardship include Gilberts voice over, the extra close-ups of Bonnie as she climbs the stairs and the double up of dialogue, where Mrs Carver is talking to Gilbert, and Mr Carver is heard tying to entertain their children in background.